NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Jatta Records) - Reggae recording artist Taj Weekes is set to shake up the musical landscape once again with his much anticipated sophomore album, DEIDEM (All of Us), set for release through Weekes' independent label, Jatta Records this spring. Jatta Records will distribute the album nationally through the Independent Distributors
Collective and Homegrown
Music Network. Jatta has also secured a licensing deal with Spectra Records to release the album to major distribution chains throughout the U.S. and Canada. Overseas, Jatta will release DEIDEM in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in conjunction with Afrikool/Culture Taxi Records. On the home front, DEIDEM will be released in St. Lucia late summer. In addition to international distribution, DEIDEM will be available online through iTunes, eMusic and other online music distributors.
Following on the heels of their critically acclaimed debut release, Hope & Doubt, Taj Weekes and his band, Adowa introduce audiences to DEIDEM - a classic roots reggae album filled with melodies that are deliberate and focused. Weekes' songwriting is stellar and in the words of veteran reggae music journalist Dermott Hussey of XM Satellite Radio, "raises the level of songwriting within the idiom of reggae music." DEIDEM discusses global and humanitarian issues such as global warming, the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and the crisis in Darfur. Though the topics are insightful and serious, the grooves, melodies and rhythms are the familiar backbeats that reggae fans know and love.
Tracks like "Orphans Cry," with its lilting and classic reggae feel, depicts the suffering and isolation of lost children, making it vivid and real, no longer an abstraction on the television set or newspaper. "Since Cain," with its Biblical reference to the first act of violence, laments the endless cycle of brutality while asking what it will take for it to end. The timely track, "Dark Clouds" warns of the cost of the degradation of the environment. The music matches the lyrics in intensity, painting an aural portrait of a world that is burning. Finding truth among the lies that we are fed by the media is the driving force behind the track, Propaganda War, and in the final track, Louisiana, Taj's haunting falsetto accompanied by a lamenting piano encompasses the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and its equally tragic aftermath of neglect and complete indifference.
Weekes' commitment to humanitarian issues is further demonstrated by his work as Goodwill Ambassador to the Caribbean and as founder of his charity, They Often Cry Outreach (TOCO), which is dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged, at-risk and orphaned children around the world. All of the proceeds from the song "Orphans Cry" will be donated to TOCO to bring awareness to the issues that affect the Caribbean such as HIV/AIDS, global warming and poverty. For more information on TOCO, please visit www.theyoftencryoutreach.org.
Taj Weekes & Adowa will support the release of DEIDEM with the launch of a multi-city national tour in June which includes major festivals such as the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in California, Taos Solar Music festival in New Mexico, Musikfest in Pennsylvania and the South Bend Reggae Festival in Indiana. The band will also perform at major club venues such as Wild Hare in Chicago, Ashkenaz in Berkeley, CA and venues in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boise, St. Louis, Kansas City and New York to name a few.
